Amaziah

March 2, 2018

The kings of Judah from Solomon to the gap (Mt 1:7-1:8)

“Solomon was

The father of Rehoboam.

Rehoboam was

The father of Abijah.

Abijah was

The father of Asaph.

Asaph was

The father of Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat was

The father of Joram.”

 

Σολομὼν δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ῥοβοάμ, Ῥοβοὰμ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἀβιά, Ἀβιὰ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἀσάφ, Ἀσὰφ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωσαφάτ, Ἰωσαφὰτ δὲ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ἰωράμ.

I Chronicles, chapter 3 lists the kings of Judah, based on 1 Kings and 2 Kings.  Based on those 2 books, there was no disruption in the lineage of David via Solomon to all the kings of Judah before the Exile, since there were no revolutions in the southern kingdom of Judah.  The son of Solomon (Σολομὼν) was Rehoboam (Ῥοβοάμ) who ruled from about 931-913 BCE.  His son Abijah (Ἀβιά,) or Abijam ruled from about 913-911 BCE.  His son Asaph (Ἀσάφ) or Asa ruled from about 911-870 BCE.  His son Jehoshaphat (Ἰωσαφάτ) ruled from about 870-848 BCE.  His son Joram (Ἰωράμ) or Jehoram ruled from about 848-841 BCE.  The Greek text used the term “begat” (ἐγέννησεν) to represent the relationships between these 5 men.  However, it seems perfectly acceptable to simply call them the father instead of saying “fathered them.”  Now there was a gap in this genealogy from 841-781 BCE, since there was no mention of Ahaziah, Azariah or Jehoahaz who only ruled for less than a year in 741 BCE.  Actually, his mother Athaliah, ruled for about 6 years until her grandson Joash or Jehoash ruled from about 835-796 BCE.  Joash’s son, Amaziah ruled from about 796-781 BCE.  Perhaps this gap in the chronology of the kings was done to keep the numbers down to 14.

November 7, 2017

Amos was told to leave Israel (Am 7:11-7:13)

“Thus Amos has said.

‘Jeroboam shall die

By the sword!

Israel must go

Into exile

Away from his land!’

Amaziah said

To Amos.

‘O seer!

Go!

Flee away

To the land

Of Judah!

Earn your bread there!

Prophesy there!

But never again prophesy

At Bethel!

It is the king’s sanctuary.

It is a temple

Of the kingdom.’”

Amos had said that King Jeroboam II would die by the sword. Amos had also said that Israel would go into exile. Thus, Amaziah, the main priest at Bethel, told Amos to go back to Judah. There he could earn his keep and prophesize. However, he was to never again prophesize at Bethel, since that was the king’s sanctuary, the temple for the northern kingdom of Israel. This northern priest wanted Amos to go south to Judah, since he did not like what Amos was saying.

November 7, 2017

Amaziah (Am 7:10-7:10)

“Then Amaziah,

The priest of Bethel,

Sent to King Jeroboam

Of Israel,

Saying.

‘Amos has conspired

Against you

In the very center

Of the house of Israel.

The land is not able

To bear

All his words.’”

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, went to see King Jeroboam II to tell him that Amos was conspiring against him, right in the heartland of the house of Israel. He said that the people of the land should not hear his words. Obviously, this indicated that Amos was prophesizing before 743 BCE, the death of King Jeroboam II.

January 1, 2015

The death of King Joash (2 Chr 24:25-24:27)

“When the Arameans had withdrawn, leaving King Joash severely wounded, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son of the priest Jehoiada. They killed him on his bed so that he died. They buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings. Those who conspired against him were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite. Accounts of his sons, and of the many oracles against him, as well as the rebuilding of the house of God are written in the Commentary on the Book of the Kings.  His son Amaziah succeeded him.”

This section explains in detail what is mentioned in 1 Kings, chapter 12, about the tragic sudden death of King Joash. There it simply says that there was a revolt by his servants that killed him. There, without giving any details, his servants rose up against him. Led by Jozacar and Jehozabad, they killed him. There King Joash was killed at the Millo or fortress that goes to Silla, while here he is killed in his bed. Here there is a simple explanation. This act was to revenge the death of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the old high priest. Here the names of those who killed him were Zabad and Jehozabad, as Jozacar has become Zabad. Notice that they were Ammonites and Moabites, not people from Judah. However, they buried him in Jerusalem, but not in the tomb of the kings where Jehoiada was buried. His son King Amaziah took over after him, so this was not a dynasty revolution, put a personal one. If you want more information about King Joash, the lost “Commentary on the Book of Kings” would be helpful. Here is the first mention of the biblical Book of Kings that this biblical writer was revising. It no longer is the lost book about the annals of the kings of Judah.

November 5, 2014

The Levite cantor Ethan the Merarite (1 Chr 6:44-6:48)

“On the left hand were their kindred the sons of Merari, Ethan son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch, son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah, son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shemer, son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi. Their kindred the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God.”

To balance the singers, (15) Ethan a Merari Levite was on the left. Thus all 3 clans of the Levites were represented as cantors or singers, during the time of David with Heman from Kohath in the center and Asaph from Gershom on the right. This genealogy goes back 15 generations. The names of (4) Mahli, (3) Mushi, (2) Merari, and (1) Levi are the classical patriarchs of this clan of Merarites. (5) Shemer may be the same as Shimei. (6) Bani appears as the name for 11 different people. The name (7) Amzi only appears once elsewhere. There were 7 people with the name of (8) Hilkiah, the most famous being the priest at the time of Josiah who found the lost book of the Law, in 2 Kings, chapter 22. There were 3 others with the name of (9) Amaziah, with the most famous of these the 8th king of Judah, King Amaziah (796-781 BCE) in 2 Kings, chapter 14. There were 5 other people with the name of (11) Malluch and 11 with the name of (10) Hashabiah. There were 2 other people with the name of (12) Abdi. There was a group called the “Kishaiah” of the Merari branch of the Levites, although this is the only mention of (13) Kishi. This (14) Ethan was not a Gershonite as in the preceding verses. Only the Levites could perform the service at the tabernacle in the temple, the house of Yahweh.

October 30, 2014

The leaders of Simeon (1 Chr 4:34-4:38)

“The leaders of the Simeon families were Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah the son of Amaziah, Joel, Jehu the son of Joshibiah, son of Seraiah, son of Asiel, Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah, Ziza the son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah. Their clans increased greatly.”

Some of the more successful families were only mentioned here and not elsewhere, like Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah, Joshibiah, Asiel, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Jesimiel, and Shiphi. Many of the other names appear elsewhere but they are the not the most well know people with this name. The most famous Amaziah was the king of Judah (796-781 BCE), although there are a couple of other Levites with this name. There were 14 people with the name of Joel, with the most famous being the minor prophet whose book is Joel. There were 5 people with the name of Jehu, the most famous being King Jehu of Israel (841-814 BCE). 11 people had the name Seraiah, some of them Levites. 6 people had the name of Elioenai, while only 4 people had the name of Asaiah or Jedaiah. 3 people had the name Adiel or Shimri, while 2 had the name of Ziza. Although 9 people had the name of Benaiah, the most famous was the son of the priest Jehoiada, who played a major role in the rule of David. Allon was both a person and the name of a town. However, the most prevalent name was Shemaiah, because there were 25 different biblical persons with that name.

October 26, 2014

The kings of Judah (1 Chr 3:10-3:16)

“The descendants of Solomon were Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, Amon his son, Josiah his son. The sons of Josiah were Johanan the first-born, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. The descendants of Jehoiakim were his sons Jeconiah and Zedekiah.”

Here we have the list of the kings of Judah starting with Solomon that can be found at the end of 1 Kings and 2 Kings. Based on those 2 books there was no disruption in the lineage of David via Solomon to all the kings of Judah before the Exile. Unlike the northern kingdom of Israel, there were no revolutions in the southern kingdom of Judah until the end with the Babylonian Captivity. However, there was also a consideration of the kings of Israel in the books of Kings, which is not here at all. The whole emphasis is on Judah and Jerusalem alone. The son of Solomon (1) Rehoboam ruled from about 931-913 BCE. His son (2) Abijah or Abijam ruled from about 913-911 BCE. His son (3) Asa ruled from about 911-870 BCE. His son (4) Jehoshaphat ruled from about 870-848 BCE. His son (5) Joram or Jehoram ruled from about 848-841 BCE. His son (6) Ahaziah, Azariah, or Jehoahaz ruled for less than a year about 841 BCE. There is no mention that Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother ruled for about 4 years until her grandson (7) Joash or Jehoash ruled from about 835-796 BCE. His son, (8) Amaziah ruled from about 796-781 BCE. His son, (9) Azariah or Uzziah ruled from about 781-740 BCE. His son (10) Jotham ruled from about 740-736 BCE. His son (11) Ahaz ruled from about 736-716 BCE. His son (12) Hezekiah ruled from about 716-687 BCE. His son (13) Manasseh ruled from about 687-642 BCE. His son (14) Amon ruled from about 642-640 BCE. His son (15) Josiah ruled from about 640-609 BCE. Many of Josiah’s sons will rule Judah. His son (16) Johanan, Jehoahaz or Shallum ruled for just one year about 609 BCE. His brother, (17) Josiah’s son Jehoiakim or Eliakim ruled from 609-598 BCE. His son (18) Jehoiachin, Coniah or Jeconiah ruled for less than a year about 598 BCE. (19) Zedekiah or Mattaniah, brother of Jehoiakim and son of Josiah, ruled from about 598-587 BCE until the beginning of the Babylonian captivity.

 

October 2, 2014

The reign of King Azariah in Judah (781-740 BCE) (2 Kings 15:1-15:4)

“In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam of Israel, King Azariah son of King Amaziah of Judah began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign. He reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh, just as his father King Amaziah had done. Nevertheless the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.”

Once again, we have a king that rules for a long time. The text says 52 years but the title and most charts put it at 42 years. He may have been regent king ruling with his father since his father King Amaziah was so unpopular. Also there is a question about his name. King Azariah is referred to as King Uzziah in the later texts. This is the problem with names that so close except for a consonant or two. As mentioned earlier at the death of King Amaziah, he was 16 when he came to rule. His mother’s name was Jecoliah who was from Jerusalem like his grandmother. Thus their names were similar. He was a righteous king who followed Yahweh. However, like his predecessors, he allowed the people to worship and sacrifice at the high places outside of Jerusalem.

September 25, 2014

The reign of King Jeroboam II in Israel (783-743 BCE) (2 Kings 14:23-14:24)

“In the fifteenth year of King Amaziah son of King Joash of Judah, King Jeroboam son of King Joash of Israel began to reign in Samaria. He reigned forty-one years. He did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh. He did not depart from all the sins of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin.”

Now back to Israel, where King Jeroboam II ruled for 41 years. This was a long time and gets us to the mid 8th century BCE. He was the son of King Joash of Israel, just like King Amaziah was the son of King Joash of Judah. Of course he had the same name as the first king of Israel so he gets to be number II. He, however, like all the northern Israelite kings did evil in the sight of Yahweh, since he followed and sinned in the ways of his namesake and caused Israel to sin.


September 25, 2014

The death of King Joash of Israel (2 Kings 14:15-14:16)

“Now the rest of the acts that King Joash did, his might, and how he fought with King Amaziah of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? King Joash slept with his ancestors. He was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Then his son King Jeroboam succeeded him.”

If you want more information about King Joash, then check with your lost “Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.” Like the other northern Israelite kings, he died and was buried in Samaria. His son became King Jeroboam II.